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The demi-lancer or demilancer was a type of
heavy cavalry Heavy cavalry was a class of cavalry intended to deliver a battlefield charge and also to act as a tactical reserve; they are also often termed '' shock cavalry''. Although their equipment differed greatly depending on the region and histo ...
man in
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
in the
16th 16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and . In English speech, ...
and early 17th centuries.


Characteristics

"Demi-lancer" was a term used in 16th-century military parlance, especially in England, to designate cavalrymen mounted on unarmoured horses, armed with a slightly lighter version of the heavy
lance A lance is a spear designed to be used by a mounted warrior or cavalry soldier (lancer). In ancient and medieval warfare, it evolved into the leading weapon in cavalry charges, and was unsuited for throwing or for repeated thrusting, unlike si ...
of a
man-at-arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a kni ...
and wearing three-quarter or half-armour, in contrast to the full plate armour of the
man-at-arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a kni ...
or
gendarme Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "men-at-arms" (literally, " ...
, who rode barded mounts. The cuirass (torso armour) and
pauldron A pauldron (sometimes spelled pouldron or powldron) is a component of plate armor that evolved from spaulders in the 15th century. As with spaulders, pauldrons cover the shoulder area. Pauldrons tend to be larger than spaulders, covering the ...
s (shoulder protection) of the demi-lancer were intended to be at least
pistol A pistol is a handgun, more specifically one with the chamber integral to its gun barrel, though in common usage the two terms are often used interchangeably. The English word was introduced in , when early handguns were produced in Europe, a ...
proof Proof most often refers to: * Proof (truth), argument or sufficient evidence for the truth of a proposition * Alcohol proof, a measure of an alcoholic drink's strength Proof may also refer to: Mathematics and formal logic * Formal proof, a co ...
. An open-faced helmet, such as the
burgonet The burgonet helmet (sometimes called a burgundian sallet) was a Renaissance-era and early modern combat helmet. It was the successor of the sallet. Characteristics The burgonet helmet is characterised by a skull with a large fixed or hinged ...
, was often worn in place of the fully-enclosed
close helmet The close helmet or close helm is a type of combat helmet that was worn by knights and other men-at-arms in the Late Medieval and Renaissance eras. It was also used by some heavily armoured, pistol-armed, cuirassiers into the mid-17th century. I ...
. Armour for the leg and foot was replaced by long cuff-topped
riding boot A riding boot is a boot made to be used for horse riding. The classic boot comes high enough up the leg to prevent the leathers of the saddle from pinching the leg of the rider, has a sturdy toe to protect the rider's foot when on the ground and ...
s. In addition to the lance, the demi-lancer would have been armed with one or two
wheellock A wheellock, wheel-lock or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name is ...
or
snaphance Swedish snaphance guns from the mid 17th century A snaphance or snaphaunce is a type of firearm lock in which a flint struck against a striker plate above a steel pan ignites the priming powder which fires the gun. It is the mechanical progressi ...
pistols carried in
saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kn ...
holsters, and a
sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed tip ...
(including
Walloon sword The basket-hilted sword is a sword type of the early modern era characterised by a basket-shaped guard that protects the hand. The basket hilt is a development of the quillons added to swords' crossguards since the Late Middle Ages. In mod ...
s and
rapier A rapier () or is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed two-edged blade that was popular in Western Europe, both for civilian use (dueling and self-defense) and as a military side arm, throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Impo ...
s.)Tincey and Turner, pp. 7-11. Demi-lancers were representative of the early modern trend of reducing the coverage of armour while increasing its thickness to provide protection for the vital areas against projectiles of
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...
-based
firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...
s of the time, such as the
arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbu ...
and the
musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually di ...
. This abbreviated armour was also meant to increase the mobility of the men and horses, as well as reducing the expense of equipping and maintaining them throughout a long campaign. In common with other 16th-century cavalrymen, demi-lancers were frequently used to strike the enemy's flank and to pursue
rout A rout is a panicked, disorderly and undisciplined retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale (''esprit de corps''). History Historically, lightly-equi ...
ing troops.


Recruitment

Demi-lancers were prominent in the English troops who fought in the
Dutch War of Independence The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Refo ...
, and were mobilised as part of the defences of England against the invasion threat posed by the
Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an ar ...
. In all 2,711 demi-lancers were raised in England in 1588, the year of the Armada. The English demi-lancers were raised using the " Trained Band" system, and from the
feudal levy Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
on nobles and ecclesiastics.


Demise

The demi-lancer was replaced by similarly-armoured cavalry whose primary armament was pistols; these cavalrymen were variously called pistoleers, cuirassiers, or ''
Reiter ''Reiter'' or ''Schwarze Reiter'' ("black riders", anglicized ''swart reiters'') were a type of cavalry in 16th to 17th century Central Europe including Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Tsardom of Russia, and others. ...
s''. In addition,
harquebusier The harquebusier was the most common form of cavalry found throughout Western Europe during the early to mid-17th century. Early harquebusiers were characterised by the use of a type of carbine called a "harquebus". In England, harquebusier was ...
s - cavalry with lighter armour using longer firearms, such as
doglock A doglock is a type of lock for firearms that preceded the 'true' flintlock in rifles, muskets, and pistols in the 17th century. Commonly used throughout Europe in the late seventeenth century, it gained popular favor in the British and Dutch ...
carbines - began to appear on the battlefield. The trend towards the loss of the lance began in Germany in the mid-16th century; France had largely abandoned the lance by 1580, and England by 1600. The use of the lance was still mentioned in military treatises up to the mid-17th century, but its actual use had died out well before that time. The Battle of Coutras (20 October 1587) between the forces of
Henry of Navarre Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...
and the Royalist force commanded by the Duc de Joyeuse during the French Wars of Religion illustrated the demise of the heavy lancer. Navarre's cavalry comprised 1,300 armoured pistoleers whilst the Royalists deployed 2,000 gendarmes. Within a few minutes of combat the Royalist lancers were routed, many being captured and held for ransom.Oman, p 475. Only the
Polish hussars The Polish hussars (; pl, husaria ), alternatively known as the winged hussars, were a heavy cavalry formation active in Poland and in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1503 to 1702. Their epithet is derived from large rear wings, which ...
continued to use the lance into the late 17th century. The use of the lance required great skill and constant practice, whereas the use of pistols in battle was far less demanding. This is probably one factor behind the disappearance of the armoured lancer in Western Europe, another being the widespread adoption of the
infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine ...
pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus ...
.


Notes


References

*Tincey, J. and Turner, G. (illustrator) (2002) ''Ironsides: English cavalry, 1588-1688'', Osprey Publishing *Oman, Sir Charles W. C. (reprinted 1998) ''History of the Art of War in the 16th Century'', Greenhill Books. {{ISBN, 0-947898-69-7 Cavalry Military units and formations of the Early Modern period 16th- and 17th-century warrior types Western plate armour